The company says that year-on-year demand for its AlphaRent daily rental service has grown by 30%.

'It is a good sign. Businesses are stepping up their activities as confidence returns,' said Paul Hollick, general manager sales development for Alphabet. 'At the same time, fleets are looking for competitive hire rates because they are turning to short and medium-term rental more often now that the glut of underutilised company cars is receding.'

AlphaRent provides cars from £9 a day on rental periods of 90 days or more, with short-term rates (1-2 days) starting at £25.50 for Category B cars (1.2 manual). Car rental is provided by Avis, with which Alphabet have just signed a further 12-month partnership agreement.

'We’re very pleased with our long term partnership with Avis, who are also a customer of Alphabet for their own company car fleet,' said Paul Hollick. 'The combination of competitive rates and excellent service we can offer helped us to double the AlphaRent user base last year.'